Import and Export Printers Using a CSV File

Printers can be exported, imported, updated, and deleted en masse using a CSV file.

Export Printers

With this feature you can export a list of all TCP/IP printers in the Printer Installer database to a CSV file. This can be useful as a reference for adding or updating printers by CSV file, or for auditing the printer objects with a third-party utility.
Go to Tools -> Import / Export -> Data Manager. Select Export, select the TCP/IP Printer Data Type, click Go, and save the CSV anywhere you want.
Information contained in the CSV includes the printer's name and folder, settings on the General tab, Port tab, Drivers tab, and Drivers / Profiles tab.

Import Printers

Printer objects can be imported in bulk with this method. It can be a convenient way to convert a large number of unmanaged direct IP printers to PI-managed direct IP printers.
Go to Tools -> Import / Export -> Data Manager. Select Insert, select the TCP/IP Printer Data Type, click Go, and select the CSV file containing the printers to be added.
The only columns that are required are "Printer Folder", "Printer Name", and "Port Address".

Update Printers

The process for updating printers via CSV file is similar to importing printers.
Go to Tools -> Import / Export -> Data Manager. Select Update, select the TCP/IP Printer Data Type, click Go, and select the CSV file containing the printers to be updated.
Printers will be identified by "Printer Name" and "Printer Folder". If "Printer Folder" is not specified, the entire tree will be searched for a printer with a matching name. If more or less than one printer with that name is found, an error will occur. If a column is not specified for a particular field, that field on the printer will not be modified. If the column is specified, but the value is blank, it will blank out the field on the printer.

Delete Printers

To delete printers, go to Tools -> Import / Export -> Data Manager. Select Delete, select the TCP/IP Printer Data Type, click Go, and select the CSV file containing the printers to be deleted.
The only column that is required is "Printer Name". If "Printer Folder" is not specified, the entire tree will be searched for a printer with a matching name. If more or less than one printer with that name is found, an error will occur.

Formatting notes

The import/export format MUST be:

Comma-delimited fields.

The double quote (") character around any field containing a comma.

Fields containing a quote (") in them, should be escaped by using two in a row. This is the default import/export format of Microsoft Excel. However, OpenOffice does not support the this method of escaping, so OpenOffice users will need to escape the quote character with a slash-quote (/").

Folder values are delimited by the backslash character (\). Folder names containing the (\) (/) and (&) characters must be escaped using (&bs;) (&fs;) and (&amp;) respectively.

The special characters that need to be escaped within a folder value are automatically escaped properly when exporting to a CSV file.

Printer deployment assignments can also be managed by CSV file. For more information click here.

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